Just Like You
by BubblyBoo
Summary: The future: All freedom has been abolished and people now live in a world of rigid discipline and strict consequences. This is the story of one person's fight for freedom.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hi! I'm back with a brand new story. I'm not too sure when I'm going to update all the stories I have out now but I decided to post this not only for your reading pleasure but also as a tribute to the end of summer. First day of school is tomorrow for me.

Now, I'm not going to ruin the story with a summary or anything so you're just going to have to read and enjoy. Here's a list of things you should read so you can understand this story a bit better.

First, I think I should tell you that even though almost all of your favorite Rurouni Kenshin characters are here in this story, I've warped their ages quite a bit. Some characters like Yahiko, Ayame, and Suzume are around the same ages as they are in the anime/manga, while others, like Aoshi and Kenshin, are either younger or older than they are in the anime/manga. For example, instead of being 28, I've made Kenshin 19.

Secondly, most of this story is from a single characters' POV except for an occasional chapter here and there. I'm sorry if this writing format confuses anybody.

Third, this is an alternative universe (AU) fic so most of the characters are out of character (OOC).

I think that's pretty much it. I hope you enjoy this story. Happy reading!

xXx

_Welcome to your future. A single madman controls the world and plays with people's lives as if they are toys that can easily be discarded. All freedom has been abolished and people now live in a world of rigid discipline and strict consequences. Families have been torn apart, becoming a thing of the past. Now, our story begins through the eyes of one young man._

I could hear the bell tolling across the courtyard and I knew that I should get up before I was late but I really didn't feel like it. Maybe I would just lie there, waiting until they noticed that I was not present and came up, demanding an explanation.

Unfortunately, I didn't have one. I couldn't say I was sick or anything like that because they'd have just brought me straight to the infirmary and gave me a check up. Then they'd have found out that there was nothing wrong with me, that I'd lied, and I'd have been in deep shit. Another unfortunate thing was that knowing that a few extra minutes of sleep was definitely not worth getting in trouble for. I probably wouldn't have been able to get back to sleep anyway.

With a yawn, I dragged myself out of bed, with that damn bell still ringing away, mocking me, as if reminding me that I was not allowed to procrastinate or be lazy in any way, that it was against the _rules._ Well, technically, this rule wasn't set in stone or anything but it might as well have been in the rulebook since that's how everyone acted.

I changed out of my nightclothes and into the navy blue pants and white shirt that we wore as a uniform. The outfit was mandatory and we had to wear it every day of the week except for Saturday and whenever someone important arrived at our school.

I brushed my teeth, washed my face and made my bed. After I had finished folding my clothes, I started to head out the door when I caught my reflection in the mirror. I peered at the person staring back at me, studying my reflection, which is something I didn't normally do.

Red hair, cut short according to regulation, messy as usual. It always made them so mad, they had even shaved my entire head bald once, but I looked disgusting and soon they realized that no matter what they did, no matter how much gel and hair products they used, my hair would always be unruly. They finally gave up. This always brought a smirk to my face, causing me to ruffle it up some more.

Violet colored eyes. When I was younger, I was told that they were weird but I'd never let it get to me because I agreed with them. I remember once, my eyes had turned a frightening golden color. They made me look like the devil, and I thought I had gone to hell. It wasn't until later that I realized that I _was_ in hell but the gold eyes never came back. I'm glad too, because that day was the worst in my life.

I looked around the room one last time before closing the door, ready to face another day.

xXx

A/N: How was it? Good? Bad? Should I throw it into the trash can? I know it's a bit early in the story to be asking that but still. If you think I should continue, please, please leave a review. I don't care if all you type is "Hi" or a single letter. I just need to know if people are reading this.

I'll give a cookie to the person who can guess who the narrator is. C'mon this has to be the easiest question ever!

Review please!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Okay here's the next chapter. I hope you like it. You'll meet more of the RK characters here, and you might find out more about them and our narrator. You may even find out who 'they' are. I don't really know so you are just going to have to read and find out. Get finding!

xXxXx

If you were to look at our 'school' for the first time, without any prior knowledge of what the buildings were, you would've probably thought that it looked like any old community college. Minus the electrically charged barbed-wire fences and the guards patrolling with sniper rifles, of course.

The campus was made up of four main buildings: housing, educational, athletics, and the nutritional hall. There were also a bunch of smaller buildings, which consisted of the infirmary, the faculty houses, and offices.

There was also one more building, situated on the eastern side of the grounds. It was the only building that looked like a normal house, or should I say, mansion. It had four floors and huge gardens surrounding it. It was where _he_ lived.

When I say he, I'm referring to the Emperor, which is what he had ordered everyone to address him by. He ruled of about three quarters of the world minus North and South America, the only places in the world where people still thought they could beat him, who still thought they could win. We all wondered why poor fools didn't they realize that they didn't stand a chance against four continents of people.

Even Australia, which had held on to freedom for about five years, succumbed, too weak to withstand the war any longer. In reality, the only reason that the Americas hadn't been captured was because they were protected on either side by the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. But it was only a matter of time before he had them too.

Every time I passed this house, I got goose bumps. Even though it was constantly bustling with servants and foreign guests, it had a haunted feeling about it, and I always felt like someone was watching me from the windows.

I had heard many rumors about the Emperor from servants, students, and even some teachers. Except for a few people from before the War, no one had ever seen him and it was said that even during meetings he sat behind a screen. Some say he was horribly deformed at birth. Others say that he suffers from hideous burns from an assassination attempt and that his body is covered with bandages. The only thing that they all seem to agree on is that he is a monster who is too ugly to see the light of day.

A monster named Shishio Makoto.

"Kenshin! Hey Kenshin, over here!"

I turned around to see a spiky-haired kid waving at me. I smiled and walked over to him.

"Hey midget." I got a glare for that comment. Yahiko was an okay kid, he'd agree to just about anything, like he was always trying to prove himself. The only subject he was touchy on was his height. He had a fierce pride, for a ten year old that is.

"You _do_ know that you're only about a couple of inches over five feet right?"

"Touché," He was right; I was easily the shortest person in my level. "What's up?"

"Can you help me with my English at break? I get the whole speaking and reading parts, but my grammar sucks and Yamagata-san said that if I don't get my act together, he'll give me extra work, _on top _of my chores." He looked at me with these big puppy-dog eyes and I couldn't bring myself to say no.

"Sure."

"Alright Kenshin, thanks! You're the greatest! I'll see you then." He gave me a big grin and ran off to the academics building for assembly and joined his class. I followed him and got into place.

xXxXx

A/N: Just so you know, I had this chapter prewritten which is why I'm updating this fast normally it takes me much longer. I'm not too sure when my next update will be due to the fact that school has started. From the looks of things, this year's going to be much harder than I expected. I'll try to work on my stories during a free period or something.

To the reviewers:

K.G. Thanks for your review! Gives out cookies I told you it was a easy question.

Amethyst Wolf Dragon: Thanks for your review AND for putting me on your Author Alert List! You get cookies too!

NicholasStarbucks: Thanks for your review, for putting me on your Author Alert List AND on your Favorites list. I know this chapter isn't much longer than the last and I apologize for it. I'll try to make the next one longer.

Press that beautiful button. You know you want to.

P.S.: I don't mind flames as long as the criticism can help me improve the story. I consider flames that say things like "This story sucks." without giving reasons for _why_ it sucks, pointless and stupid.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! This is one of those chapters I mentioned in the beginning of this story where Kenshin isn't narrator. These types of chapters will be popping up throughout the story. If you're wondering why I'm writing like this, it's because I believe these chapters show you the depth of the characters, instead of simply having Kenshin's description of them.

xXxXx

Shishio Makoto sat on a plush, velvet couch, contemplating what he was about to do. Two servants were in the process of wrapping him in fresh bandages before his guests arrived and the emperor smirked as he felt their hands shake out of fear.

'They would be petrified if they knew what was in store for them.' he mused.

What the poor servants didn't know was that after they had finished wrapping their leader in bandages, guards would escort them to the courtyard where the firing squad awaited them.

No one, in the past ten years, had seen the Emperors burnt body and lived to tell the tale. There were only three exceptions to this rule, three people who had seen. One was dead, one was directly under Shishio's thumb, and the other... he had escaped.

"You can go now." He dismissed them with a wave of his hand. The servants bowed and began to collect their things before placing a shoji screen in front of the Emperor.

"And have a nice day."

This seemed to put them in ease, and one of them actually smiled as he left. As they were exiting, a soldier entered and bowed.

"General Komagata and his wife have arrived, my lord."

Shishio smirked again. "Send them in."

A tall man with graying hair and a woman wearing a traditional purple kimono came in, kneeled, and bowed so low that there heads nearly touched the floor.

Komagata-san lifted his head but his wife remained in her position.

"Emperor, I'm grateful to you for seeing me."

"Komagata, get to the reason of your visit." Shishio despised General Komagata and it irritated him just to hear the man speak. He then reminded himself of the reward that would be his at the end of this 'meeting'.

"Yes. You see sir; there was an uprising at one of the schools in Austria. The students, as well as the teachers, joined forces and utterly demolished the entire complex. After that, they attempted an attack on the militia base."

Shishio knew exactly where the old man was going with his report. Komagata was in charge of the army division that was stationed in Europe, a job in which he took great pride. If the revolt had succeeded, the Emperor knew that the old man would've killed himself to avoid the shame.

Shishio had given the man this position after the end of World War III, in which the General (then a Lieutenant Colonel) had proved extremely useful in his rise to power. However, the times had changed, and old ties were being severed.

"Of course, their attempts were futile and we crushed them easily."

"Of course."

Shishio emitted a sound that seemed to be a cross between a sigh and a chuckle. He shifted slightly in his seat, sticking his hand underneath the cushions and withdrawing something, unbeknownst to Komagatawho could only see his outline through the shoji.

"I suppose you want a reward for your accomplishments?"

"Oh no, my lord, I just thought..." Komagata began to sweat a bit. True, he had come to receive some sort of praise but something in the Emperors' voice was making him nervous, just as intended.

"And why not?" Shishio had changed his tone as if he was chatting with his best friend. "A man of your stature should definitely be commended on such an accomplishment."

Shishio smirked again. It was something he did quite often when he was toying with his 'puppets', as he liked to call them.

"It's alright sir… I really don't need anything." Komagata began to regain his confidence, assured that he wasn't in any trouble.

"Ah… but you see, I already have the perfect gift for you."

Before General Komagata could even respond, he saw a flash of light from behind the shoji and felt a searing pain in the left side of his chest. The force of the bullet pushed him backwards and he was dead before he even hit the floor.

His wife remained in her position, tears streaming down her face.

The guards ran in upon hearing the gunshot but they stopped in their tracks when they saw Komagata's body in small pool of blood instead of their Emperor's.

"Are you alright, my lord?"

"Yes, I'm fine." He got up and headed towards a door situated behind the couch. "Clean this mess up."

"And the woman, my lord?"

Shishio stopped and thought for a few moments. "Take her to my chambers. And have one of the maids get her some new clothes, preferably, something red."

With that, he left and in the distance, a volley of bullets being fired could be heard.

xXxXx

A/N: Yeah... I guess you can figure out what kind of person our lovable Makoto-chan is. In other news, I finally got Volume's 6 & 7 of the Rurouni Kenshin mangas! I'm so happy! I can't wait for the eighth one to come out next month, Kenshin's off to Kyoto! Meaning Shishio will be in it, therefore helping with my stories.

I made a watercolor of Kenshin. I wish I had a scanner, so I could post it on the net. Then you guys could tell me how much it sucks as my loving brother put it. It seriously does! The pencil sketch was great, but once I started putting color to it… the eyes smuged, his gi is all blotchy, and do- :gets hit with a brick and survives in a way only possible in anime: OW! What the? Hey there's a note:

_You're rambling! Thank the reviewers, and finish the chapter. Then go and update your other stories!_

_Hitokiri Battousai_

What? turns to see a redhead running around the corner wearing a jacket that says 'Greenwood Varsity Soccer' Aha! Stupid Kenny! Thinks he's Battousai. For those of you who don't know him, he's a character in my other story, the Dawn of Time. And no, he's not Kenshin. I guess I have been neglecting that story a bit…

To the reviewers:

K.G.: Thanks for your review. Enjoy your cookie!

Cartoon-Protector: Thanks for your review. I know this story is a bit weird but it'll make more sense with the later chapters.

Elliot Damion Dailly: Changed our name huh? Guess I can't refer to you as Santa Claus anymore. Thanks for your review. I'm glad you liked the touché. Yeah this is another short chapter but the next one will be kind of long because it's the combination of two chapters. I promise!

REVIEW PLEASE!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry, I haven't updated in a while, the wireless internet card on my laptop wasn't working and my dad has this thing against putting floppies in his computer so I couldn't post this. It was actually a good thing. Normally, I'd sit on the internet, either on AIM or surfing the net, as it's too cold to go outside (for me at least) but since it was down, I worked on a lot of my stories and did a lot of extra credit for school. Wooh.

Another note: Before I realized it, I had written most of this chapter in the past tense. I liked it better then the format I was using earlier so I've decieded to repost the previous chapters in past tense.

Here's the new chapter (it's actually long for this story). You'll meet some more RK characters and find out more about Kenshin.

xXxXx

After listening to Headmaster Ujiki ramble through his lecture of the day, we all marched single-file out of the assembly hall and headed to our classes. It took me a great amount of self-restraint to stay still during the speech instead of spitting in the guys face and walking out, which I had considered many times.

You could say I had a… passionate dislike for our headmaster.

Upon entering my first period class, World History, I took my seat immediately. Our teacher, Saitou Hajime, was already seated at his desk and watched each student as they entered the classroom. Truthfully, the guy gave me the creeps. He's had these narrow, gold-colored eyes that seemed to take in absolutely everything, and you knew that there was no point in trying to hide stuff from him. One glare from those eyes could get you to spill your secret, and with the look he always had on his face, you'd half-expect him to jump up and wring your neck, no matter how calm his voice sounded.

In a sentence: He had all of his students scared shitless.

I pulled out my note book and started working on our pre-class assignment. It was all fairly easy stuff that we'd learned since our 9th Educational year but Saitou loved to teach us all those little details that no one really cared about but he expected them all in your answers, making a simple question much more difficult.

Q1) What was the Black Death and what was its impact on European society?

Q2) What major problems did European states face in the fourteenth century?

Q3) How and why did the authority of the papacy decline in th-

"Excuse me, sir. May I come in?"

I looked up to see a very familiar person with spiky-brown hair standing in the doorway.

"Yes you may Mr. Sagara, and may I ask why you are late?"

"Ujiki felt it necessary to reprimand me on the wrinkled condition of my shirt and ordered that I return to my room and iron it."

"That's Headmaster Ujiki, Sagara. Now, sit down, do your work and don't let it happen again."

"Yes, sir"

Sanosuke stuck his hands in his pockets, giving his own slight show of defiance and walked over to his desk. He gave me a small grin before getting to work.

That small gesture reminded of the day we had met, back when we were all naïve enough to believe that things would ever be normal again.

xXx

"_Hey!" a voice called out to me "What are you doing on the floor? Hey kid, I'm talking to you, look at m-."_

_I looked up to see an older boy peering down at me. He had dark hair that fell into his eyes, and kind eyes that literally could be called a window to his soul, seeing as they showed all his emotions, no matter how hard he tried to hide them._

_I had been curled up in the corner of a large room (along with about seventy other boys between the ages of four to fourteen) holding my knees to my chest and crying my heart out. What else was I suppose to do? I didn't know anyone there, or why I was even there. Hell, I didn't even know where there was! All I knew was that I wanted to go home, where I could go to sleep in my nice warm bed and wait for Grandma or Akira to wake me. However, part of me knew I'd never see home or my family for a while, if at all._

"_What's the matter?"_

_I wiped my face with the back of my hands and glared at him. 'What does he want?' I thought. _

"_No- nothing" I stuttered. It was then I noticed another, smaller boy clutching the older ones pant leg. He had funny looking brown hair and a strange look on his face, like he was sizing me up. Then he stuck his tongue out me and grinned._

_I stared at him, wondering what was wrong with these people._

_The older one crouched down so he was at my eye level._

"_You know, it's not good to lie."_

_Once again, I stared at him… then I got angry._

"_What do you know? Go away and leave me alone!" _

_I began to cry all over again. I tended to cry easily back then. My Uncle Hiko had said it was a sign of weakness. My Grandmother had said only true men can cry._

"_I know that you miss your family. I know that you want to go home. I know that you're scared and I know that you're probably tired too, seeing as you've been sitting here for almost four hours."_

_It was true._

_I couldn't remember how I had gotten to that place. I had woken up in the arms of a man I didn't know carrying me into the room (being small for my age, the guy probably thought I was five). Of course, this frightened me and I started kicking and punching the guy with all my might, causing him to drop me. Before he could catch me, I ran right into a thick of older boys and he was unable to find me. I wandered around, looking from face to face, seeing if I knew any of them, and preferably hoping to find one of my older brothers,Kogorõ and Akira. I kept looking for an hour, trying not to lose my calm, longing for something or someone to hold onto. When my search ended, I walked over to the corner, sat and cried. That was where the boy found me._

_I burst into a fresh batch of tears, and soon felt arms wrap around me, pulling me into a hug._

"_Hey, stop that. Don't cry okay? You'll be alright."_

_I stopped and looked at him, his eyes showing sympathy._

"_Promise?"_

_He faltered. Thinking back on it, I could tell that he was debating on what to tell me. He knew more about the situation we were in then I did and I believe he knew our grim fates. Then he smiled._

"_Promise."_

_I gave him a weak smile, and felt a small hand patting my back. I turned to see the spiky haired kid, giving me a don't-worry-be-happy grin._

"_By the way, my names Souzou, Sagara Souzou, and that's my little brother Sanosuke, Sano for short."_

_Another cheeky grin._

"_My names Himura Kenshin."_

"_Nice to meet you, now c'mon, they've got some sandwiches over there" he pointed to a table on the other side of the room "They're not that good, but foods food, and I'm hungry."_

_I followed him over to the table and ate extremely dry cheese sandwiches. I hadn't noticed then but Sano was holding my hand the whole time, fearing that I might start crying again._

xXx

I learned something that day. That if there was one thing that was completely useless in the world, it was crying. It didn't make me feel any better, didn't do a single thing for me nor did it accomplish anything.

I haven't cried since.

I was nine, Souzou was twelve, and Sanosuke… he was only six years old then, when the war ended and unbeknownst to us, we were among the orphans that every war produces.

Or at least, that's what they told us.

xXxXx

To the reviewers:

xxLuvoxx: Thanks for your review. Even the single lettered one . I'm glad you liked the description of Komagata's death, though I doubt he did.

Elliot Damion: Another name change? Thanks for your review. Sadistic:looks around sarcastically: Me? Of course not… I have a flow? Thanks, I didn't know that. I was just going where the story took me in the beginning but don't worry, I know where I'm going with it thankfully. Oh, and I as you can tell, I made the chapter long, not too long though, then I'd have to give too much away.

Ok, that's pretty much it for this chapter. I hope you liked it and I really hope you review. Seriously, it would make me REALLY happy as I love getting reviews (even flames).

Press the button…...


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